Speaker Nancy Pelosi would like to move past the controversy over her claim that the CIA “misled” her about waterboarding, but Minority Leader John Boehner seems determined to stand in her way. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

CIA claim has Boehner on the offense

Speaker Nancy Pelosi would like to move past the controversy over her claim that the CIA “misled” her about waterboarding, but Minority Leader John Boehner seems determined to stand in her way.

The California Democrat and the Ohio Republican have maintained mostly cordial relations in 2½ years as the leaders of their respective parties. But nearly a week after Pelosi said the CIA failed to tell her about waterboarding in 2002, Boehner is still pounding out a daily drumbeat of criticism.

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In TV interviews, press conferences and newspaper op-eds, he has argued that Pelosi should “put up or shut up” — either prove that the CIA lied to her or apologize for claiming that it did. And while Boehner hasn’t raised the prospect of Pelosi’s ouster, he has walked right up to the line.

“I’m not going to take anything off the table,” Boehner told Fox News over the weekend, “but I do believe that the ball is in her court. And she has to either put up or have an apology and move on.”

Democrats suggest privately that Boehner is using the Pelosi flap in order to shore up support among his own members. Although he’s the top Republican in the House, Democrats say Boehner is under pressure from the more aggressive leaders just below him: Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia and GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana.

“I think he sees this as a way to get some traction for himself,” said one Democratic insider. “He’s out there on this and Cantor is not. It’s an opportunity to trump [Cantor] with the GOP base.”

“It’s a different role he’s playing now,” added Education and Workforce Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), a top Pelosi ally. “He’s adopted an attack dog mode, and that’s what he wants to do. On this one, he’s simply wrong, but that’s what he wants to do.”

Boehner’s supporters say it’s not so. While acknowledging that both Boehner and the GOP stand to benefit from attacking Pelosi, they say the minority leader is motivated solely by his outrage over what the speaker said.

“He doesn’t give a crap what Cantor does; he doesn’t give a crap what Pence does,” insisted a close Boehner ally. “He really thinks Pelosi was way out of line here.”

“What do you expect Boehner to do?” asked Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a Boehner confidant. “It’s not personal. The facts are the facts. She can’t explain it, and he’s got to call her on it. ... We’re still at Step One and we still need answers, and the Republican leader has got to demand answers.”

Although Boehner and Pelosi sit on opposite sides of the aisle, personal attacks between them have been relatively rare. Two years ago, for example, Boehner held his tongue as other Republicans mocked Pelosi for using a bigger, more expensive government jet to fly to and from her home in San Francisco than the one former Speaker Dennis Hastert used for the shorter trips to his home in Illinois.